THE GIRAFFE'S OBITUARY 
45 
hat. They were most affectionate creatures, and, as 
M. Thibaut noticed when in charge of them in Upper 
Egypt, would shed tears if they missed their com- 
panions or their usual attendants. But the develop- 
ment of the lachrymal ducts, which enables the giraffe 
to express its emotions in this very human fashion, is 
less obvious than the wonderful size and beauty of 
the eyes themselves, which are far larger than those 
of any other quadruped. On May 27, 1840, four 
years after their arrival, the female giraffe bore and 
afterwards reared a fine fawn, and it was not until 
they had been eleven years in the menagerie that the 
death occurred of one of the pair of males which had 
survived the first year in England. In 1849 two more 
males and one female giraffe were waiting the Society’s 
pleasure at Cairo, and the stock continued to increase 
by births in the menagerie. In 1867 the straw in the 
giraffes’ house caught fire at night, and a female and 
her fawn were suffocated. A sum of ^545 was 
claimed as compensation for their loss, and duly paid 
to the Society by the “ Sun” Fire Insurance Office, 
probably the first claim of the kind paid in Europe. 
For curiosity, now that we have no living giraffe left 
in England, we would suggest a comparison of the 
beautifully-stuffed giraffe heads in Mr. Rowland 
W ard’s collection in Piccadilly, with the innumerable 
specimens of other large game, such as wapiti, buffaloes, 
hippopotami, or rhinoceros, which fill the rooms. In 
all these, the size and character of the eye has been 
carefully reproduced, though no art could preserve 
